If you feel the earth moving under your feet just a little today — a subtle but definite rumble of “thick-freaky-nastiness” — don’t panic; you’re not alone. Last year — for late-coming Western audiences at least — the gqom bomb went off, and its wonky blast waves have been rolling out globally from the epicenter of Durban ever since. Now, looking to crown new genre royalty, young Athens-based label Hypermedium is firing out a new EP from AudioBoyz.
Following up the group’s Danger EP on Blank Mind, their new The Rise of Gqom features four heavy-set tracks of totally bare, totally euphoric, totally thick-freaky-nasty dance music. It arrives September 8 on digital and highly limited-edition vinyl (300 copies!) from Hypermedium, but today, we are happy to premiere “Monster,” one of the record’s thicker, freakier, nastier slabs; it’s six-and-a-half hypnotizing minutes of noise and deeply off-rhythm beat work that feel equal to roughly six million air horns going off inside each and every one of your blood vessels. Press PLAY to experience it for yourself down below, and hang on to your capillaries.
The Rise of Gqom tracklisting:
01. African Conga
02. Spotlight
03. Monster
04. Drifting Away